Abstract: Sensors and other constrained devices periodically transmit small information packets motivating the study of hash chains with small domains and ranges. Hash chain based protocols use deferred disclosure and it is often assumed their hash functions are one-way, thus essentially unbreakable. However, if a deterministic hash function|s domain and range are both very small, then the hash function can|t be one-way. This paper proposes a solution to this challenge – general hash chains. General hash chains have the following properties: repeated hash elements don|t indicate cycles; subsequent hash elements don|t have exponentially diminishing ranges.